Difference between Japanese and Western Cultures
1. Heating:
In Japan, there are mainly two ways to heat a house; one is by using kerosene heater and the other by using air conditioner. As far as I am aware, kerosene heaters are very unique. After purchasing the heater, you must buy the fuel from a gas station (or petrol station). Most heaters require electricity for spark plugs and timers. The biggest danger using this type of heater is carbon monoxide poisoning. Recent models now provide an hourly warning system to warn the user about ventilation.
Air-conditioners are also unique in a sense that one is there for each room unlike many American homes which has a ventilation system to allow every part of the room to be heated (or cooled) according to their preferred temperature. As eco-friendliness is now a ‘hot’ topic, it may be more eco-friendly to have one air conditioner per room so that other rooms not being used is left alone. However, purchasing air conditioner for each room in the house can be costly and CO2 produced to make each machine can add up to a significant amount.
In many European countries, it can use a completely different heating mechanism using central-heating with water. Using pipes, water heated by a boiler is distributed to multiple rooms, and each room can have several radiators (wall-mounted panels through which the heated water passes in order to release heat into rooms). In the UK where I spent almost half of my life, this type of heating was the most common.
No comments:
Post a Comment